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Microsatellites

NASA fired three microsatellites into space over the Pacific Ocean Wednesday morning to study the earth’s magnetic fields. The 55-pound ST5 satellites were carried aloft from Vandenberg Air Force Base aboard a Lockheed L-1011 jet. Shortly after 6 a.m., when the plane reached 39,000 feet, a compact Pegasus rocket dropped from the aircraft’s belly, fired its engine and ferried the satellites on a 10-minute climb into space.

The mission’s goal is to demonstrate the benefits of a group of small, low-cost satellites simultaneously measuring the earth’s magnetic fields from different locations.

Microsatellites are of unusually low weights and small sizes. One reason for miniaturizing satellites is to reduce the cost: heavier satellites require larger rockets of greater cost to finance; smaller and lighter satellites require smaller and cheaper launch vehicles and can sometimes be launched in multiples. They can also be launched ‘piggyback’, using excess capacity on larger launch vehicles. Miniaturized satellites allow for cheaper designs as well as ease of mass production, although few satellites of any size other than ‘communications constellations’ where dozens of satellites are used to cover the globe, have been mass produced in practice.

Besides the cost issue, the main rationale for the use of miniaturized satellites is the opportunity to enable missions that a larger satellite could not accomplish, such as:

posted by: kyawoo at 20:45 | link | comments |
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